Labeling Theory Research Paper

Labeling theory essentially focuses on the reputations you build in society. We label individuals by how they talk, walk, how they handle an interaction, so on and so forth. If you were to stand up in front of a crowd of thousands of people and tell them your opinion on a matter, they are going to label you based on what they think of you. There is a Primary Deviance, also called the confirmation of deviance, and the secondary deviance, which is also known as the presumption or assumption of deviance. Someone doing something brings on primary deviance; it is the action in which gets an individual a label. Say your friends decide it would be cool to take a few comic books from the local bookstore. As you are leaving, the clerk stops you and

asks you to empty your pockets. When you do you hand him the comic books you had taken. He calls the cops, and they call your parents.

You are now not only labeled deviant by the clerk, but also by the police and your parents. Secondary deviance is gaining a label because of someone else or for no reason at all. If the kid from the comic book store brought a friend to that same store with him, who had no involvement with the theft, his friend would still be considered deviant by the clerk as he is with the kid who stole previously. He gained the deviant label just by walking in the store with his friend. It also pertains to racial profiling. If an African American man is walking down the street and he is arrested without reason or means because a robbery four blocks down the road had taken place, this is racial profiling. There are also three variables or factors in the process of labeling in particular that sociologists talk about. One is importance of the violated norm. This is basically explaining which kind of deviance gets the most negative label. If you forget to shut the lights off in your house as you are walking around, the sanction for that is not going to be very harsh. Someone might just ask you to shut the lights off; it is a folkway. If a person commits murder, it is considered a more and is sanctioned severely, and obviously labeled with extreme

negativity. Number two is social identity of the individual. It signifies a person’s status or position in society. Some people such as actors, actresses, politicians, professional athletes have bigger labels. If they step out of line, or make a comment that people do not like it is much more likely to be heard around the world than if the average Joe makes a statement. Third is social context of the deviance. This is essentially where the deviance has taken place. What is normal in one location may not be for another. If wrestling students learn new moves on the mat at practice that is just fine, but if they go to a local club and try and use those moves it is deviant behavior.